The Dallas-based nonprofit The Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation has announced the 2025 recipients of its Art of the Spanish Americas grants and fellowships.
Unidentified artist, “Saint Rose of Lima,” 18th century, oil on canvas, 40 3/8 x 52 inches. Thoma Foundation Collection
The open call was sent out in September, 2024 to apply for conservation grants, exploratory travel award, Marilynn Thoma pre- and post-doctoral fellowships, and research and travel awards totaling $160,000.
Conservation grants were awarded to the Arzobispado de Arequipa (Archbishopric of Arequipa) in Peru for the conservation of two monumental paintings of the Church of Lari in the Colca Valley. The 20-foot-wide viceregal-era paintings, depicting The Coronation of the Virgin and The Lord of the Earthquakes, were damaged during a recent earthquake. Perhaps ironically, the Lord of the Earthquakes painting honors panicked citizens of Cusco begging for protection from a massive 1650 earthquake by processing an image of Christ through the streets. The Thoma grant will also provide for a scholarly publication on the paintings.
The CustodiArte Conservation Laboratory will also receive a grant for conservation and research of the viceregal-era painting The Marriage of Mary and Joseph, housed in the historic Oratory of Acuña in the Valley of Catamarca of northern Argentina. The foundation will distribute up to $50,000 for the selected proposals.
An exploratory travel award of up to $5,000 went to Ana Girard, a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. According to the Thoma Foundation website, Ms. Girard’s project, The Visual Culture of Solitude, is an investigation of “the figure of the hermit in the early modern Hispanic world.” Ms. Girard will visit Peruvian convents, museums, and churches in Lima, Arequipa, and Cusco to analyze religious artworks and architectural spaces.
A Marilynn Thoma pre-doctoral fellowship of $50,000 has been awarded to Victoria Rodríguez do Campo to study religious art of the transitional period between the viceroyalty era and the subsequent era, in archives, libraries, museums, and churches in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Spain, and Italy.
Marilynn Thoma post-doctoral fellowships of $65,000 were awarded to Dr. Andrés de Leo, Dr. Francisco Mamani Fuentes, and Dr. Magdalena Pereira. Mr. De Leo will analyze the artistic and political legacy of Manuel de Mollinedo, Bishop of Cusco from 1673 to 1699, a key figure in the city’s reconstruction after the 1650 earthquake. Mr. Fuentes will examine the major artistic boom in Potosí, Bolivia, during a period of declining silver output in one of the Spanish Empire’s most important mining centers. Ms. Pereira will explore the interconnection between visual culture, preaching, and music in the Indigenous Franciscan missions of Potosí, Colca in Peru, and Altos de Arica in Chile.
Research and travel awards of up to $25,000 were given to Dr. Ilona Katzew, Lucia Galaretto, and Dr. Sara González Castrejón.
Ms. Katzew’s project, The Carved and Luminous World of Missionary Art from South America, explores decorative objects circa 1700 to 1850. Ms. Galaretto will study how tensions between new technological imperatives and local, social, political, and technical conditions shaped construction of the Casa Real de Moneda Circular in Potosí. Ms. González Castrejón will document rural mission chapels located in the Huayhuash and Western Mountain ranges of northern Lima.
Visit the Thoma Foundation website to learn more about its collection and ongoing efforts to promote projects that deepen understanding and preserve the artistic heritage of the visual culture of the Spanish Americas.
